Lesson 8: Some, Any, One

“Some, Any, and One”
In English a lot of students have trouble using the words “Some, Any, and One.” When it comes to talking about quantity “some” is useful for non-count nouns like liquids and other nouns that aren’t counted one by one. “Some” can also be vague, hidden or general. For example, sometimes details are unknown due to a lack of information or the speaker doesn’t want to give information for a particular reason. “Any” is also general and means any choice is acceptable. “One” is very limited to only one thing or one acceptable choice. In this lesson we are going to review the words, “Some, Any, and One” to help you to be able to speak naturally and correctly about quantities. Here is an example of a non-count noun. For example, “I’m going to buy some milk at the store.” You could also just say, “I’m going to buy milk at the store.” But adding the word “some” seems to give more detail and plurality rather than just using the word “milk” alone. I mentioned “any” above can mean without limits, but it has another useful meaning. “Any” can also mean zero when combined with the negative verb as in, “We don’t have any milk.” Again, you could say, “We don’t have milk” but it feels so general and adding “any” gives emphasis to the fact that the quantity is zero. In the case of “one” it is also a good word to use as a pronoun such as in the example: X. “Do you have a dictionary?” Y. “No, I don’t have one.” Using “one” is not just limited to things, but you can also use it with people too. I’ve made some answer expressions below and I’d like you to make your own original sentence in the form of a question to match the answer.

Key words:
Do you have some money? I don’t have any
Can she borrow the pens? She needs some
Does he have a pet? He has one
Do they want some food? We want some
Is she a doctor? She could be one
Does the store carry Japanese rice? They might have some
Does the dealership have any blue cars? They can’t see any
Do they want a new puppy? We wouldn’t want one
Did he sell some new products? He hasn’t sold any
Can she drink some sake? She shouldn’t have some
Is he looking for English books? He won’t find any

Here are some situational examples:
Example: Two friends
(Casual):
w Dude, got money?
u I don’t have any.

Example: Two co-workers
(Everyday)
w Do you think Sales has extra computers?
u They might have some.

Example: Boss to manager
(Formal):
w Ford won’t allow us to buy one of their trucks.
u That’s okay, we wouldn’t want one.